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RIVES,  WILLIAM  CABELL 
Address  of  Hon.  \"Jm.   C.  Rives, 
(resident  of  the  Agricultural 
iociety  of  Albemarle. 


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ADDRESS 


OF   HON.    WM.    C.     RIVES, 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE 


AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  OF  ALBEMARLE, 


AT  THEIR   ANNUAL  FAIR, 


On  the  29th.  of  October,  1842. 


Printed  by  order  of  the  Society. 


CHARLOTTESVILLE: 
JAMES  ALEXANDER,  Printer. 

1842. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Agricultural  Societv  of  Albemarle. 
This  is  the  first  occasion,  since  you  did  me  the  honor  to 
make  me  your  President,  that  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
returning  you  my  acknowledgments  for  so  distinguished  a  proof 
of  your  confidence  and  regard.  I  feel  how  little  of  ability  I 
have  to  advance,  in  an  effective  manner,  the  noble  objects  of 
our  association  ;  but  whatever  powers  or  faculties  of  good  I  pos- 
sess shall  be  faithfully  and  zealously  devoted  to  your  service. 
The  sense  of  my  incompetency  to  fill  the  measure  of  your  expec- 
tations is  deeply  enhanced,  when  I  recolleet  who  they  were  that 
have  occupied  this  place  before  me — men,  •'  who  have  held  the 
scale  of  empire,  ruled  the  storm  of  mighty  war,"  and  having 
served  their  country  in  its  highest  and  most  difficult  stations, 
have  given  the  serene  evening  of  their  days  to  the  glorious  task 
of  redeeming  and  elevating  its  agriculture.*  Of  these  illustri- 
ous citizens,  my.immediate  and  honored  predecessor  has,  since  our 
last  annual  meeting,  closed  his  long  and  distinguished  career  of 
public  usefulness.  While  his  State  and  the  nation  at  large  mourn 
his  loss,  we  cannot  butleel  it,  in  an  especial  mannei,  on  an  oc- 
casion like  the  present,  when  his  imposing  and  animating  figure 
was  wont  to  mingle  among  us,  and  to  impart  fresh  zeal  to  our 
common  pursuits. 

Every  great  undertaking  of  public  utility  seems  destined  to  al- 
ternate periods  of  depression  and  revival.  Ours,  I  trust,  after  a 
temporary  relaxation  of  the  interest  felt  in  it,  owing,  probably, 
to  the  occupation  of  the  public  mind  with  more  exciting  but  cer- 
tainly not  more  useful  subjects,  is  now,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  on  the 
eve  of  a  revival,  which  will  endue  it  with  new  energies,  and 
carry  it  forward,  with  accelerated  velocity,  in  the  path  of  its  use- 
fulness. It  seems  impossible  to  question  the  high  utility  of  such 
associations,  when  conducted  with  a  right  spirit.  They  stimu- 
late the  progress  of  improvement  by  the  potent  influence  of  mu- 
tual example,  and  the  generous  ardour  of  an  awakened  emula- 
tion. The  mind,  as  well  as  the  heart  of  man,  is  sociable, 
and  seeks  companionship  and  communion  with  other  minds.  We 
are  told  in  a  book  of  revered  authority  that  "iron  sharpeneth  iron 
— so  a  man  sharpeneth  the  countenance  of  his  friend."  This  so- 
cial principle  is  the  modern  lever  of  Archimedes  in  all  enterpri- 
ses of  public  good,  from  making  a  rail  road  or  canal,  to  chris- 
tianising a  world.  There  is  no  country  in  which  it  has  been  so 
extensively  and  efficiently  employed,  for  general  purposes,  as  in 
our  own.  This  characteristic  feature  of  American  society  was 
remarked  upon,  with  his  accustomed  discrimination  and  judg- 

*  Mr.  Madison  and  Gov.  Barbour  were  successively  Presidents 
of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Albemarle. 


tJlflYETtsn  Y  OX  < 

..VIA  BAI 


■i 


ment,  by  a  learned  and  distinguished  foreigner  who  visited  us  a 
few  years  ago,  and  who,  tracing  its  existence  to  the  popular 
character  of  our  institutions,  affirmed  as  a  general  philosophical 
truth,  "that  in  Democratic  countries,  the  science  of  association  is 
the  mother  of  science;  the  progress  of  all  the  rest  depends  on 
the  progress  it  has  made."* 

If  this  be  true  as  to  the  general  objects  of  human  science  and 
improvement,  how  emphatically  true  is  it  in  regard  to  that  great 
interest  with  which  we  are  specially  connected.  As  cultivators 
of  the  soil,  we  live  in  a  state  of  isolation  and  dispersion  on  our 
respective  farms.  While  the  members  of  other  professions  and 
callings  are  congregated  in  towns  and  cities,  or  are  frequently 
brought  together  in  the  exercise  of  their  professional  duties,  the 
farmer  treads  the  daily  paths  of  industry  in  the  majestic  solitude 
of  nature,  relying,each  one  by  himself,  upon  his  own  unaided  judg- 
ment in  the  conduct  of  his  daily  toil.  By  the  happy  expedient 
of  associations  like  the  present,  we  are  brought  up  periodically 
from  the  solitude  of  our  daily  pursuits,  each  one  bringing  with 
him  as  a  contribution  to  the  general  fund  of  skill  and  knowledge, 
the  results  of  his  own  separate  experience  and  observation  to  be 
thrown  into  a  common  stock  for  the  benefit  of  all;  for  in  regard 
to  every  species  of  useful  knowledge,  community  of  goods,  is 
now,  thanks  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  established  law  of  the 
social,  and  more  especially  of  the  agricultural  world.  The  more 
experienced  and  successful  of  our  brethren,  too,  bring  with  them, 
to  the  annual  competitions  of  skill  and  improvement  instituted 
by  these  associations,  specimens  of  the  choicest  productions  of 
their  industry  and  care,  animal,  vegetable,  and  mechanical, 
while  the  help-meets  whom  Heaven  in  its  bounty  has  bestowed 
upon  us,  ever  ready  to  assist  in  every  good  and  useful  work,  grace 
the  department  of  the  exhibition  which  belongs  to  them,  with  the 
finer,  but  not  less  essential  fabrics  of  their  cunning  household 
arts.  Who  can  doubt  the  efficacy  of  institutions  such  as  these 
to  incite,  stimulate  and  aid  us  in  running  the  noble  race  of  indus- 
try and  improvement  which  Providence  has  set  before  us. 

If  any  such  there  be,  let  him  cast  his  recollection  back  to  the 
appearance  and  condition  of  our  farms  some  twenty-five  years 
ago,  when  this  society  was  established,  and  compare  them  as 
they  were  then  with  what  they  are  now.  Though  we  all  feel 
there  is  abundant  room  still  for  improvement,  yet  so  great  is  the 
progress  which  has  been  already  effected,  that  the  identity  of  cer- 
tain farms  which  I  could  name,  has  been  almost  literally  lost  in 
the  change.  Take,  for  example,  in  this  immediate  vicinity,  Pen- 
park,  the  farm  of  our  worthy  brother  Mr.  Craven,  one  of  the  ear- 

1  De  Toequeville, 


liest,  as  well  as  most  successful  pioneers  in  this  benificent  march  of 
improvement,  orjMoors-brook,  the  residence  of  another  of  our  wor- 
thy colleagues,,  Mr.  Charles  Meriwether,  a  more  youthful  but  not 
less  zealous  votary  of  the  cause  of  rural  irnprovement,and  who  that 
knew  them  as  I  recollect  them,  in  their  ruined,  exhausted,  and  di- 
lapidated condition,  twenty-five  years  ago,  would  recognize  them 
as  the  same  places  now,  except  by  their  unchanged  geographical 
position  ?  The  wand  of  the  magician,  set  in  motion  by  this  so- 
ciety, has  passed  over  them,  and  in  the  place  of  the  desolate  na- 
kedness of  red  galls  and  gullies,  or  that  still  more  dreary  type  of 
poverty  and  neglect,  the  broom-straw  wilderness,  have  succeeded 
the  golden  abundance  of  the  rich  and  waving  wheat -field,  or  the 
bright  verdure  of  hills  clad  in  luxuriant  clover  and  green-sward. 
Similar  and  equal,  if  not  greater,  changes  have  taken  place  upon 
many  other  farms  within  the  sphere  of  this  society,  which  could 
be  named ;  and  while  iheir  exterior  aspect  has  been  thus  magi- 
cally transformed,  it  would  npt  be  risking  too  much  to  say  that 
within  the  same  period,  their  actual  marketable  productions  have 
been,  at  least,  tripled.  If  any  should  be  inclined  to  set  down 
these  results  to  the  credit  of  the  general  spirit  of  improvement, 
which  has  more  or  less  pervaded  the  country  at  large,  within 
some  years  past,  rather  than  to  any  influence  exerted  by  this  so- 
ciety, I  shall  be  pardoned  for  referring  them,  in  no  invidious 
sense,  to  the  marked  and  acknowledged  difference  in  the  progress 
of  agricultural  improvement  between  this  and  adjoining  coun- 
ties, possessing  similar  natural  advantages,  but  not  hitherto  pro- 
fiting, in  an  equal  degree,  of  the  stimulants  and  aids  derived  from 
associations  like  ours. 

While  the  success  of  the  past  supplies  us  with  abundant  mo- 
tives for  perseverance,  the  prospects  of  the  future  afford  a  yet 
stronger  incentive  to  increased  exertion  and  zeal.  Agriculture, 
as  a  science,  may  be  said  to  be  as  yet  in  its  infancy.  The  re- 
searches of  learned  and  inquisitive  men,  within  the  last  ten  :or 
fifteen  years,  have  thrown  a  new  light  upon  some  of  the  most 
important  processes  of  nature,  concerned  in  the  rearing  and  bring- 
ing to  maturity,  the  productions  of  the  earth.  Organic  chem- 
istry, which  has  done  so  much  lately  towards  revealing  and 
explaining  those  processes,  has  almost  wholly  had  its  origin,  as 
a  distinct  branch  of  science,  within  that  period.  Every  rational 
system  of  agriculture  must  be  bottomed  on  a  knowledge  and  ap- 
plication of  these  principles.  In  what  manner  plants  carry  on 
their  nutrition  and  growth— what  substances  contribute  to  their 
nourishment  and  support,  and  in  what  form  enter  into  their  con- 
stitution,— by  what  organization  they  appropriate  aud  assimilate 
their  food— the  structure  and  functions  of  their  different  organs, 
—the  sources  from  which  their  supplies  of  food  are  mainly  de- 


rived,  whether  from  the  earth  or  from  the  air, — the  composition, 
ingredients,  and  influence  of  the  soils  in  which  they  grow, — the 
chemical  action  of  the  various  manures  employed  to  promote 
their  growth — all  these  are  matters  of  which  the  agriculturist 
should  possess  a  sound  and  correct  knowledge,  if  he  would  prac- 
tice his  professioowith  intelligence  and  success.  The  elementary 
principles  of  these  enquiries,  he  derives  from  4he  chemist,  the 
vegetable  physiologist,  the  mineralogist,  the  geologist  ; — but 
much  remains  to  be  done  by  his  own  enlightened  and  discrimi- 
nating observation.  The  farmer,  indeed,  is  the  fellow  laborer  of 
the  man  of  science  in  prosecuting  his  researches  into  all  the  arca- 
na of  the  vegetable  economy.  His  true  character  is  that  of  an 
experimental  philosopher,  whose  operations  in  the  vast  labora- 
tory of  nature,  are  the  indispensable  complement  of  those  per- 
formed in  the  laboratory  of  the  chemist. 

Here,  then,  is  a  new  and  important  field  for  the  usefulness  of 
agricultural  societies.  It  is  under  their  encouragement  and  su- 
pervision that  a  well-digested  series  of  accurate  and  skilful  expe- 
riments can  be  most  advantageously  instituted  and  conducted,  to 
aid  in  the  advancement  of  agricultural  science,  and  to  test  the 
theories  on  which  some  of  the  most  essential  problems  of  practi- 
cal agriculture  depend.  The  importance  of  this  desideratum  has 
been  long  felt  by  men  of  science.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  in  his 
well  known  lectures  on  agricultural  chemistry,  remarks  "  that 
nothing  is  more  wanting  in  agriculture  than  experiments,  in  which 
all  the  circumstances  are  minutely  and  scientifically  detailed,  and 
that  this  art  will  advance,  in  proportion  as  it  becomes  exact  in  its 
methods."  In  this  most  useful  branch  of  human  knowledge,  we 
may  freely  and  without  reproach  indulge  the  passion  of  the  day 
for  mesmerising  We  may  commune  with  nature  in  her  sleep,  in- 
terrogate her  on  her  mysterious  laws,  elicit  the  secrets  of  her  most 
hidden  processes,  and  turn  the  revelations  thus  obtained  to  the 
highest  practical  benefit  of  our  species.  I  will  take  the  liberty, 
on  another  occasion,  of  inviting  the  attention  of  the  society  to 
some  suggestions  in  detail  for  extending  our  usefulness,  in  this 
respect. 

May  we  not  hope  that  the  Professors  of  Science,  in  return  for 
such  services  as  we  may  be  enabled  to  render  to  the  cause  of  li- 
beral knowledge  by  our  experimental  operations  in  testing  and 
illustrating  its  principles,  will  cheerfully  come  forward,  from 
time  to  time  to  aid  and  enlighten  us  by  their  theoretical  and  phi- 
losophical views  of  the  phenomena  of  nature,  and  of  the  true  me- 
thods of  investigation  and  improvement.  It  is,  I  am  sure,  only 
necessary  to  make  the  appeal,  to  have  it  promptly  and  zealously 
responded  to.  Nothing  has  more  strikingly  distinguished  the 
utilitarian  age  in  which  we  live  than  the  honorable  anxiety  of 


6 

men  of  science  to  apply  the  results  of  iheir  researches  acd  disco- 
veries to  the  practical  purposes  of  life,  and  thus,  in  their  day  and 
generation,  lo  add  to  the  amount  of  actual,  positive  good  in  the 
world.  To  all,  who  are  animated  with  this  noble  spirit,  there 
can  be  no  higher  encouragement  and  reward,  than  to  find  the  ac- 
tive classes  of  society  appreciating,  at  their  just  value,  the' aids 
which  science  is  capable  of  affording  to  their  industrious  pursuits, 
The  late  accounts  from  England  bring  us  inlormation  of  Liebig. 
the  great  German  Chemist,  whose  recent  work  on  organic  Chem- 
istry marks  a  new  and  prominent  sera  in  the  history  of  Science, 
mingling  with  the  farmers  of  Yorkshire  at  their  Cattle  Shows  and 
Agricultural  meetings,  and  expounding  his  theories  in  familiar 
popular  addresses.  The  distinguished  geologists  of  that  country, 
Buckland,  Murchison,  De  la  Beche,  it  is  well  known,  have  zeal- 
ously complied  with  the  calls  made  upon  them,  by  undertaking 
gratuitously,  geological  surveys  of  the  soils  and  sub-soils  of  ex- 
tensive agricultural  districts.  ]n  our  owu  country,  the  labours 
of  Professor  Hitchcock,  Dana,  Jackson  and  others,  attest  the  same 
sedulous  and  faithful  attention,  on  the  part  of  men  of  science  in 
Republican  America,  to  the  interests  of  practical  agriculture; 
and  I  need  not,  I  am  sure,  go  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  soci- 
ety for  a  distinguished  example  of  a  like  public  spirit  in  a  learned 
Professor,  whose  labours  are  so  well  known  to  us.* 

It  is  the  province  of  Associations  like  ours,  gentlemen,  to  in- 
vite and  bring  forth  the  contributions  of  men  of  science  to  the 
cause  of  practical  improvement.  The  great  work  of  Liebig,  to 
which  I  have  just  referred,  was  prepared  at  the  special  instance 
of  the  British  Association  for  the  advancement  of  science.  The 
lectures  ot  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  on  agricultural  chemistry,  which 
gave  the  first  marked  impetus  to  the  applications  of  science  to 
agriculture,  were  delivered  at  the  request,  and  in  the  presence,  of 
the  Board  of  Agriculture  of  England.  A  mere  County  Agricul- 
tural Association  in  England,  resembling  in  every  respect  our 
own,  has  recently  had  the  good  fortune  of  bringing  forth  by  its 
encouragement  and  intervention,  a  work  of  extraordinary  merit, 
which,  for  the  popular  and  intelligible  form  in  which  its  instruc- 
tions are  conveyed,  as  well  as  for  the  body  of  sound  science  it 
contains,  is  probably  destined  to  replace  all  its  predecessors.  I 
refer  to  the  lectures  of  Professor  Johnston  "  on  Agricultural 
Chemistry  and  Geology,"  the  first  part  of  which  only  has  yet  ap- 
peared, but  which  affords  the  promise  of  a  code  of  instruction, 
when  completed,  of  the  highest  value  to  the  practical  agricultur- 
ist. These  admirable  Lectures  were  delivered  before  the  Durham 
County   Agricultural  Society,   and  the  members  of  the  Durham 

*  Professor  Rogers. 


Farmer's  Club,  in  a  style  of  explanation  so  lucid  and  comprehen- 
sible, as  to  call  for  no  previous  technical  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
jects of  which  they  treat.  Here  is  an  example  worthy  of  imita- 
tion. We  have  already  shewn  our  sense  of  the  intimate  and 
important  connection  between  the  objects  of  our  society  and  the 
investigations  of  science,  by  making  the  learned  Professors  of 
our  University,  ex  officio,  honorary  members  of  this  Association. 
Shall  we  not  invite  them,  from  time  to  time,  to  bring  the  lights 
of  their  several  departments  of  science,  through  the  medium  of 
popular  lectures,  to  direct  and  illuminate  the  paths  of  our  agri- 
cultural labours,  and  to  sustain  and  embellish,  by  the  efforts  of 
their  genius,  the  chief  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  our  national  pros- 
perity and  grandeur  ?  Shall  we  not  lay  public-spirited  men  of 
science  every  wh^re  under  contribution  in  the  same  holy  cause? 
I  shall  venture  to  propose  this  to  you,  gentlemen,  in  the  firm 
confidence  that  an  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of  American  science 
can  never  be  made  in  vain. 

By  the  means  here  suggested  the  usefulness  of  our  society  may 
be  greatly  enlarged,  and  much  may  be  done,  by  its  instrumenta- 
lity, for  the  interests  of  agriculture.  But  yet  other  measures,  of 
a  wider  scope,  are  demanded  by  those  interests.  A  public  en- 
dowment, under  the  patronage  of  the  State,  for  instruction  in  the 
principles  and  practice  of  agriculture,  is  imperatively  due  to  that 
great  class  of  the  community,  which  is  immediately  connected 
with  the  cultivation  of  the  earth.  We  have,  in  great  number, 
schoolsof  Law,  schools  of  Medicine,  schools  of  general  Literature, 
but  none  of  Agriculture.  Why  is  this  so?  The  recent  census  shews 
that  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  agriculture  is  four  times 
greater  than  the  whole  number  of  persons  employed  in  Commerce, 
Manufactures,  the  Learned  Professions,  and  Trades  of  every  de- 
scription, all  put  together.  Does  not  every  consideration  of  poli- 
cy and  justice,  then,  require  the  provision  of  some  means  of  pro- 
fessional education,  in  an  art,  to  which  so  predominant  and  vital 
a  portion  of  the  industry  and  worth  of  the  country  is  devoted.  Is 
agriculture  alone  to  be  degraded  into  a  vulgar  and  empirical  pur- 
suit, which  requires  no  liberal  instruction?  On  the  contrary, 
there  is  no  other  profession,  I  will  venture  to  affirm,  which  de- 
mands, for  its  intelligent  exercise,  so  wide  a  range  of  scientific 
knowledge.  It  embraces  within  its  scope,  by  a  direct  and  neces- 
sary dependence,  the  domain  of  Chemistry,  Botany,  vegetable 
Physiology,  Geology,  Mineralogy,  Meteorology,  Zoology,  Me- 
chanical Philosophy,  not  to  speak  of  the  moral  and  political  sci- 
ences which  have  so  important  a  bearing,  in  many  respects,  upon 
some  of  its  highest  interests.  To  which  of  the  learned  profes- 
sions, so  called,  I  would  ask,  is  so  large  a  groupe  of  kindred 
•ciences  associated  in  such  close  and  intimate  relationship  ? 


8 

These  considerations  are  making  themselves  daily  more  and' 
more  felt,  and  are  arousing  public  attention,  in  every  enlightened 
community,  to  the  just  claim s-of  agricultural  education.  A  pro- 
fessorship of  agriculture  has  been  long  since  established  in  the 
universities  of  Edinburg  and  Dublin  ;  and  from  the  former  has 
recently  proceeded  one  of  the  most  valuable  works  on  the  "  ele- 
ments of  practical  agriculture,"  ever  published.  If  distinct  pro- 
fessorships of  agriculture  have  not  yet  been  founded  in  the  English 
universities,  arrangements  are  in  progress  for  establishing  them  ; 
and  in  the  mean  time  lectures  of  distinguished  ability  have  been 
delivered  on  the  subject  by  some  of  their  learned  professors, — a- 
mong  which  it  would  be  inexcusable  not  to  mention  particularly 
the  lectures  of  Professor  Daubeny  of  the  University  of  Oxford.  It 
is  time  that  Virginia  should  acquit  herself  of  the  debt  which  every 
enlightened  and  especially  every  Republican  commonwealth  owes 
to  this  great  primordial  interest  of  society.  We  must  have  a  pro- 
fessorship of  agriculture  in  our  University  as  a  part  of  the  gen- 
eral course  of  liberal  studies,  to  furnish  our  young  men,  when 
they  quit  its  walls,  with  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  principles- 
of  a  profession  which  so  many  of  them  embrace  in  after  life.  In 
addition  to  this,  there  should  be  established  in  connection  with 
the  University,  a  special  agricultural  Institute,  designed  for  those 
who  might  not  wish  or  find  it  convenient  to  follow  the  general 
course  of  University  studies,  but  whose  object  would  be  to  acquire 
in  shorter  time  or  at  less  expense,  the  professional  education  of 
an  instructed  agriculturist,  as  well  as  the  general  accomplish- 
ments of  an  intelligent  and  useful  citizen.  In  this  department, 
theory  and  practice  should  go  hand  in  hand ;  and  for  that  purpose, 
a  model  and  experimental  farm  should  be  attached  to  the  Insti- 
tute to  be  conducted  under  the  most  skilful  supervision  and  ma- 
nagement, and  to  afford  examples  of  the  most  improved  methods- 
of  culture  and  fertilization. 

Of  such  an  Institution,  a  perfect  exemplar,  tested  by  forty  years 
of  successful  experience,  is  presented  to  us  in  the  admirable  and 
celebrated  establishment  of  Von  Fellenberg  at  Hofwyl  in  Switz- 
erland. I  am  spared  the  necessity  of  details  in  the  development 
of  this  suggestion,  by  simply  referring  to  that  well  known  estab- 
lishment as  a  general  model,  admitting  readily  of  modifications 
where  a  difference  of  circumstances  may  be  supposed  to  require 
them.  It  was  my  good  fortune  during  my  residence  in  Europe, 
to  visit  this  classic  spot ;  and  I  can  safely  say,  thai  I  saw  nothing 
in  the  palaces  of  Kings,  in  the  museums  of  the  fine  arts,  in  the 
gorgeous  displays  of  wealth  and  power  on  every  hand,  which  im- 
pressed me  with  half  the  admiration  I  felt  in  contemplating  the 
modest  but  noble  establishment  of  the  Swiss  Republican  patriot 
andsage.    Agriculture  he  chose  as  the  basis  of  his  enterprise. 


and  by  the  happy  combination,  in  the  training  of  his  pupils,  of 
intellectual  and  bodily  labor,  mutually  relieving  and  giving  zest 
to  each  other,  he  has  achieved  those  prodigies  of  moral  and  phy- 
sical improvement, which  have  drawn  upon  his  institution  the  ear- 
nest attention  and  applause  of  the  civilized  world.  It  has  fur- 
nished to  Continental  Europe  the  best  models  of  its  agriculture, 
while  it  has  sent  forth  into  its  various  States  and  Kingdoms  some 
of  their  most  useful,  virtuous  and  enlightened  citizens.  At  the 
same  time,  the  model  farm  of  Hofwyl  stands  a  proud  refutation 
of  all  the  stereotypftdsalires,  so  frequently  indulged,  on  scientific 
farming,  as  the  accounts  of  the  establishment,  kept  with  minute 
mercantile  exactness,  disclose  through  a  series  of  years,  a  nett 
profit  of  S£  percent  upon  the  whole  capital  employed— a  rate  of 
profit  with  which,  I  venture  to  say,  any  of  us  practical  farmers 
would  be  more  than  content. 

I  have  thought  it  not  unsuitable  to  the  present  occasion,  gen- 
tlemen, to  present  to  you  these  observations  on  the  means  of  ex- 
tending the  usefulness  of  our  society,  of  elevating  the  standard 
of  our  profession,  and  of  promoting  the  progress  of  agricultural 
science,  in  which  the  highest  prosperity  of  the  State,  as  well  as 
our  own  personal  interests  and  feelings,  is  so  deeply  concerned. 
If  I  shall  have  thrown  out  any  thing  which  shall  appear  to  you 
worthy  of  being  further  pursued,  I  shall  esteem  myself  happy  in 
awakening  the  interest  of  those,  whose  intelligent  exertions,  con- 
curring with  those  of  our  agricultural  brethren  elsewhere  must 
ensure  by  their  united  moral  influence,  success  to  whatever  ob- 
ject of  public  good  they  may  espouse. 

Pass  we  now  from  these  topics  to  those  of  a  more  familiar  cha- 
racter connected  with  operative  agriculture.  The  bountiful  au- 
thor of  our  being,  gentlemen,  has  given  to  man  dominion  over 
the  earth,  and  over  all  its  productions,  but  coupled  with  the  grant 
the  express  condition  and  injunction  that  he  should  subdue  it  by 
his  industry  and  toil.  It  is  no  part  of  the  scheme  of  divine  Pro- 
vidence that  spontaneous  nature  should  supply  the  wants  of  man. 
On  the  contrary,  there  is  hardly  any  thing  which  nature  presents 
to  us  in  a  state  which  supersedes  the  necessity  of  human  labour 
to  make  some  change  in  it,  to  prepare  it  for  the  use  of  man.  Po- 
litical economists,  indeed,  tell  us  that  labor  is  the  only  source  of 
the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life,  or  what  they  call 
wealth.  Whatever  exception  may  be  taken  to  this  proposition, 
in  its  unqualified  strictness,  it  is,  nevertheless,  undeniable  that 
human  labor  is,  by  far,  the  most  important  constituent  in  almost 
all  anicles  consumed  by  man — even  the  ordinary  products  of 
the  earth.  The  great  philosopher,  Locke,  remarks  that  "  if  we 
will  rightly  consider  things  as  they  come  to  our  use,  and  cast  up 
the  several  expenses  about  them,  what  is  purely  owing  tonature, 
2 


10 

and  what  to  labour,  we  shall  find  that,  in  most  of  them,  ninety- 
nine  hundredths  are  wholly  to  be  put  to  the  account  of  labour." 
And  he  adds,  that  "  it  would  be  a  strange  catalogue  of  things 
that  the  industry  of  man  provided  and  made  use  of,  about  every 
loaf  of  bread,  before  it  came  to  our  use,  if  we  could  trace  them."* 
Let  us  not  repine  at  this  law  of  our  being,  but  recognise  in  it  a 
new  proof  of  the  goodness  and  wisdom  of  Divine  Providence, 
which  thus  supplies  us  with  constant  motives  to  that  active  exer- 
tion of  our  faculties,  mental  and  bodily,  in  which  only  the  true 
dignity  and  happiness  of  man  are  to  be  found. 

The  earth,  then,  is  given  to  us  in  a  state  unfit  and  incompetent 
for  the  support  of  civilized  man,  but  with  varied  and  indefinite 
capacities  of  production,  to  be  drawn  forth  by  human  industry 
and  art.  There  is  no  part  of  its  primitive  surface  which  does  not 
stand  in  need  of  improvement,  in  some  form  or  other,  by  artifi- 
cial means.  This  is  the  fundamental  principle  of  agriculture  as 
an  art,  and  points  to  a  constantly  progressive  improvement  as 
the  end  of  every  generous  system  of  farming.  No  man  should 
be  content  simply  to  preserve  his  lands  in  the  condition  in  which 
they  are.  The  poor  should  be  made  rich,  and  the  rich  richer  ; 
and  such  is  the  efficacy  of  artificial  means  of  improvement  that 
what  was  originally  the  poorest  land  in  Europe,  (I  refer  to  the 
light  sandy  soils  of  Flanders,)  is  now  probably  the  richest— so  that 
Flemish  Husbandry  has  become  synonymous  with  the  perfection 
of  fertility  and  productiveness.  In  effecting  this  extraordinary 
triumph  over  the  disadvantages  of  nature,  much  doubtless,  has 
been  done  by  good  tillage,  deep  ploughing,  thorough  draining, 
and  a  judicious  rotation  of  crops ;  but  the  most  efficient  agent  has 
been  the  minute  care  in  collecting  and  preserving,  and  unwea- 
ried diligence  in  the  application,  of  manures.  These,  indeed,  in 
connection  with  proper  culture,  are  the  "  charms  and  mighty 
magic"  by  which  the  wonder  working  power  of  agricultural  im- 
provement has  every  where  wrought  its  miracles.  It  is  alike 
curious  and  encouraging  to  observe  how  the  catalogue  of  these 
precious  resources  is  daily  extending  by  the  discoveries  of  mo- 
dern science,  and  the  inquisitive  spirit  of  the  human  mind.  In 
addition  to  the  numerous  class  of  vegetable  and  animal  manures, 
so  long  known,  and  whose  virtues  have  been  tested  by  centuries 
of  (experience,  it  is  now  discovered  that  the  respective  com- 
pounds of  lime  and  magnesia  in  bones,  and  the  peculiar  chemical 
affinities  of  charcoal poivder  and  soot  have  placed  them  high  on 
the  list  of  valuable  fertilizers. 

But  it  is  chiefly  in  the  wide  field  of  mineral  manures,  and  in 


*  See  Treatise  of  Civil  Government,  B.  II,  chap.  V.  s.  40, 
and  43. 


11 

the  bowels  of  the  earth,  that  the  researches  of  the  chemist  and  the 
geologist  are  from  time  to  time  unfolding  new  resources  for  stim- 
ulating and  increasing  the  productiveness  of  its  surface.  I  need 
not  bring  to  your  view  any  of  these  modern  discoveries,  of  which 
you  will  obtain  a  far  more  satisfactory  knowledge  from  the  pub- 
lications which  treat  of  them.  But  I  cannot  pass  without  notice 
the  extraordinary  and  cheering  results,  which  have  already  fol- 
lowed, and  are  likely  to  be  still  farther  produced,  in  a  portion  of 
our  own  state,  by  the  use,  as  a  manure,  of  those  beds  of  fossil 
shells,  which  are  found  deposited,  in  such  large  abundance, 
throughout  the  tide-water  region,  and  to  which  the  denomina- 
tion of  marl  is  now  generally  applied.  And  here  we  have  occa- 
sion to  remark  a  striking  example  of  that  wise  economy  of  Pro- 
vidence to  which  I  have  already  referred.  The  region  in  which 
these  large  deposits  of  marl  are  found  is  distinguished,  for  the 
most  part,  by  natural  soils  ot  an  inferior  fertility  ;  but  beneath 
their  surface  nature  has  placed,  in  liberal  measure,  the  means  of 
enriching  them  to  any  extent,  thus  inviting  the  enterprise  and  in- 
dustry of  man  to  their  improvement.  It  was  the  fortune  of  a 
public  spirited  and  intelligent  Virginian,  at  a  critical  moment  for 
his  country,  to  perceive  the  inestimable  value  of  this  hidden  tal- 
ent; and,  under  the  awakening  influence  of  his  able  writings  and 
experimental  demonstrations,  lower  Virginia  is  now  undergoing 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  transformations  of  this  age  of  im- 
provement. I  need  not  say  that  I  speak  of  the  able  author  of 
the  "  Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures" — a  work  that  has  already 
taken  a  distinguished  place  among  the  agricultural  Classics  of 
the  English  language,  and  which  will  transmit  the  name  of  its 
author,  to  future  times  as  a  public  benefactor. 

You  are  not,  unmindful,  gentlemen,  that  nature  has  placed  on 
either  side  of  us,  in  the  region  we  occupy,  one  of  the  most  effi- 
cient of  this  family  of  calcareous  manures.  I  refer  to  the  vein  of 
limestone  which  borders  us  on  the  east,  running  parallel  with,  and 
at  about  a  mile's  distance  from  the  base  of  the  southwest  moun- 
tains, and  the  broader  field  of  it  which  skirts  us  on  the  west,  run- 
ning along  the  western  base  of  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains. — 
These  bodies  of  limestone  run  in  parallel  directions  through  the 
entire  width  of  the  state,  and  at  about  an  average  distance  of 
twenty-five  miles  from  each  other.  It  becomes,  therefore,  a  matter 
of  interest  to  the  whole  range  of  counties  lying  in  this  situation, 
and  not  inappropriately  called  the  Piedmont  counties  of  Virginia, 
to  enquire  how  far  we  may  profitably  avail  ourselves  of  this  ma- 
terial, which  nature  has  placed  on  either  hand  of  us,  for  the  im- 
provement of  our  lands.  It  strikes  one  at  first  with  some  sur- 
prise that  lime  having  been  advantageously  employed,  from  the 
earliest  times  as  a  manure,  doubts  should  still  exist,  in  various 


12 

localities,  as  to  the  benefits  of  its  application.  But  when  it  is 
recollected  that  it  belongs  to  the  class  of  what  are  called  special 
manures,  adapted  to  particular  soils,  and  even  on  the  soils  to 
which  it  is  adapted,  requiring  to  be  used  in  different  quantities, 
according  to  the  condition  of  the  land  to  which  it  is  applied,  this 
spirit  of  caution  is  not  an  unreasonable  one. 

Being  somewhat  of  a  pioneer  in  the  lime  husbandry  in  this 
portion  of  the  state,  I  feel  myself  called  on,  gentlemen,  to  give 
you  the  results  of  my  experience.  I  have  used  about  12,000  bu- 
shels of  it,  (slaked  measure,)  from  a  quarry  opened  for  the  pur- 
pose on  my  own  land,  which  has  been  spread  over  about  150 
acres,  at  an  average,  therefore,  of  80  bushels  to  the  acre.  Some 
accounts  which  I  had  read  of  its  eflecis  elsewhere,  not  express- 
ed with  the  accuracy  and  discrimination  so  much  to  be  desired 
in  such  communications,  had  led  me  to  expect  a  decided  effect 
from  it  upon  the  growing  crop — by  which  I  mean  the  crop,  of 
either  corn  or  wheat,  immediately  succeeding  the  application  of 
the  lime.  In  this,  T  was  disappointed  ;  but  the  discrepancy  is 
probably  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  I  have  not  hitherto  used 
lime  in  combination  with  putrescent  manures  from  the  farm 
yard  or  the  stable,  while  others  have  most  probably  done  so, 
though  that  circumstance  was  not  noted  in  the  communications 
to  which  I  refer.  My  first  disappointment,  however,  in  regard 
to  the  effects  on  the  growing  crop,  was  more  than  compensated 
by  the  marked,  unequivocal,  and  decided  effect  I  have  never  fail- 
ed to  perceive  from  the  lime  alone  in  the  clover  succeeding  the 
wheat  crop— with  which  it  has  been  my  general  practice  to  apply 
the  lime  at  the  time  of  seeding,  harrowing  in  the  lime  and  wkeat 
at  one  and  the  same  operation.  The  increased  luxuriance  of 
the  clover  has  furnished,  of  course,  conclusive  evidence  of  the  im- 
provement of  the  land  from  the  application  of  the  lime,  and  has 
in  its  turn,  enured  to  the  still  further  amelioration  of  the  soil. — 
All  my  observations  in  regard  to  lime  would  lead  me  to  the  opin- 
ion that  it  is  the  most  permanent  of  all  manures,  and  to  concur 
in  the  conclusion  so  forcibly  stated  by  Dr.  James  Anderson,  one 
of  the  most  copious  and  able  of  all  the  British  writers  on  agri- 
culture, who  in  his  most  valuable  "  Essay  on  Lime"  says,  "  that 
its  effects  on  the  soil  will  be  felt,  perhaps  as  long  as  the  soil  exists ;" 
and  this  conclusion  he  justifies  by  the  mode  of  its  action  altering 
the  nature  and  constitution  of  the  soil  itself,  and  enduing  it  with 
capacities  and  affinities  which  it  never  before  possessed.  My  ap- 
plications of  lime  have  been  almost  entirely  on  a  close  gravelly 
loam,  of  a  brownish  or  gray  color;  and  the  result  of  a  single  ex- 
periment on  land  of  a  different  description  would  lead  me  to  be- 
lieve that  it  is  not  adapted  to  the  red  ferruginous  clay  soils  of 
th«  sides  and  base  of  our  south  west  mountains.    It  is  a  proverb 


13 

in  England  and  Scotland  that 

"  He  that  marls  sand 
Will  soon  buy  land  ; 
But  he  that  marls  clay 
Throws  all  away." 
The  reason  that  Dr.  Anderson  suggests  for  the  comparative  in- 
efficiency of  marl  on  clay  soils  is,  that  clay  forms  a  large  propor- 
tion of  marl,  and  the  addition  of  clay  to  clay,  therefore,  cannot  be 
expected  to  produce  so  good  an  effect.    The  same  reasoning  would 
furnish  a  solution  of  the  supposed  want  of  adaptation  of  lime  to 
the  red  clay  soils  of  the  south  west  mountains  proper,  and  of  its 
unquestionable  efficacy  on  the  adjacent  gray  loams,  as  a  chemi- 
cal analysis  of  the  two  soils  has,  I  understand,  disclosed  the  ex- 
istence already  of  two  per  cent,  of  lime  in  the   former,  and  of 
hardly  any  sensible  quantity  whatever  in  the  latter. 

Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  the  highly  beneficial  effects 
of  lime  as  a  manure,  on  a  large  majority  of  our  soils,  in  which,  ac- 
cording to  an  analysis,  by  Mr.  Ruffin,  of  as  many  as  sixteen  diffe- 
rent specimens  taken  from  various  and  distant  parts  of  the  State, 
lime  is  very  rarely  ever  found  as  an  original  and  natural  ingredi- 
ent.   The  important  practical  question,  then,  is,  whether  the  ex- 
pense of  the  application  is  justified  by  the  benefits  of  the  manure. 
This  is  a  question  which  every  person  must  determine  for  himself 
according  to  his  particular  position,  and  his  own  views  of  profit 
and  loss.  For  myself,  I  will  only  say  that  I  have  always  found  the 
best  application  I  could   make  of  money  derived  from  the  land, 
was  to  return  it  back  to  the  land  in  the  shape  of  improvement. 
There  is  no  investment  of  capital  which  can  be  more   safe,  and 
in  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  cases,  none  half  so   profitable. 
If  by  laying  out  five  dollars  in  manure  on  an  acre  of  land  you 
make  it  produce  you  20  bushels  of  wheat  worth  a  dollar  a  bushel, 
when  it.produced  but  five  bushels  before,  and  this  product  is  re- 
newed to  you  every  four  years  in  an  ordinary  rotation  of  crops, 
have  you  not  secured  an  interest  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  on  the 
outlay  you  have  made.and  at  thesame  time,increased  the  value  of 
your  land  four  hundred  per  cent !     And  yet  results  such  as  these, 
extravagant  as  they  may  seem.and  though  we  may  be  unconscious 
of  them  ourselves,  are  often  achieved  by  a  liberal  and  spirited 
system  of  improvement.     The  passion  of  us  Virginia  farmers  is 
to  acquire  more  land— not  to  make  the  land  we  already  possess 
more  productive.     If  a  farmer  should  add  yearly  to  his  possessions 
a  hundred  acres  of  land,  he  would  doubtless  consider  himself 
getting  along  very  prosperously  in  the  world.     But  if  at  no  greater 
expense  he  can  make  a  hundred  acres  of  land  twice  or  thrice  as 
productive  as  ihey  were  before,  is  he  not  doing  much  better,  with 
the  great  advantage  of  having  a  more  compact  surface  on  which 
♦o  concentrate  his  labor  and  care. 


14 

The  misfortune  of  our  Virginia  agriculture  is  that  we  have  al- 
ready too  much  land  for  the  labor  we  can  bring  to  cultivate  it.  As 
we  are  not  likely  to  make  a  voluntary  curtailment  of  the  extent  of 
our  farms, the  greatest  practical  reform  that  can  be  introduced  into 
their  management  is  to  curtail  the  arable  surface  on  each,  and 
to  lay  down  a  larger  portion  of  our  lands  to  grass.  Instead  of 
wasting  the  energies  of  our  soil  by  annually  spreading  over  a 
wide  surface  a  superficial,  negligent,  and  teazing  cultivation, 
yielding  comparatively  nothing,  how  much  better  would  it  be  to 
cultivate  one  half  or  one  third  of  the  space  we  now  do,  to  con- 
centrate upon  that  all  our  resources  of  labour  and  improvement, 
and  to  leave  the  rest  to  recruit  itself  by  the  healing  processes  of 
nature.  Liebig  has  explained  in  a  very  ingenious  and  philoso- 
phical manner  the  process  by  which  lands  laid  down  to  grass  are 
constantly  renewing  and  improving  themselves,  and  has  thus 
confirmed  ihe  deductions  of  our  own  observation  by  the  demon- 
strations of  science.  Should  any  one  doubt  whether  we  should 
derive  from  the  reduced  surface,  better  cultivated,  a  product  equal 
to  that  of  the  whole  under  inadequate  culture,  let  him  recollect 
the  instructive  story  told  by  old  Golumelia,  in  his  De  re  rustica, 
of  a  Roman  vine-dresser,  who  had  a  vine-yard  and  two  daughters ; 
when  his  eldest  daughter  was  married,  he  gave  her  a  third  of  the 
vine-yard  for  a  portion,  and  yet  he  had  the  same  quantity  of  fruit 
as  before ;  when  his  second  daughter  was  married,  he  gave  her 
the  half  of  what  remained,  and  still  the  produce  of  his  vine-yard 
was  undiminished. 

This  anecdote  of  the  Roman  agriculturist,  gentlemen,  points 
the  full  force  of  its  moral  against  that  fatal  mania  for  emigration 
which  has  hitherto  carried  ofl  so  large  and  valuable  a  portion  of 
our  population  to  seek  wider  domains  for  themselves  and  their  fa- 
milies in  the  prairies  of  the  west.  It  is  not  more  land  that  we 
need.  We  have  enough  and  more  than  enough  already,  if  prop- 
erly cultivated  and  improved,  for  ourselves  and  our  children  after 
us.  It  is  industry,  improvement,  good  husbandry  we  want,  to 
develope  the  natural  capabilities  of  our  soil,  and  to  make  it  ad- 
equate to  every  reasonable  wish,  and  even  to  the  fondest  dreams 
of  prosperity  and  wealth.  With  these,  seconding  the  gifts  of 
providence  by  which  we  are  surrounded,  we  shall  have  nothing 
to  envy  to  the  untamed  abundance  of  the  west,  tempting  us  from 
the  cherished  scenes  of  our  childhood  and  the  hallowed  tombs  of 
our  ancestors.  I  am  happy  to  believe,  gentlemen,  that  a  brighter 
day  is  now  dawning  upon  us,  and  that  the  eminentnatural  advan- 
tages and  superior  capabilities  of  Virginia  are  beginning  to  be  ap- 
preciated, at  their  true  worth,  by  the  citizens  of  our  sister  States) 
as  well  as  to  he  more  and  more  felt  by  her  own  children.  While 
emigration  from  our  borders  has,  in  a  great  measure,  ceased,  oth- 


15 

er  States  are  beginning,  in  their  turn,  to  send  to  us  tributes  of 
their  moral,  industrious,  and  enterprising  population,  attracted 
hither  by  the  advantages  of  our  climate,  our  numerous  navigable 
rivers,  our  water  power,  our  mineral  resources, our  favorable  ge- 
ographical position,  our  kind  and  improvable  soils.  Of  these 
welcome  swarms  from  kindred  hives,  I  have  recently  become 
acquainted  with  one  of  so  interesting  a  character,  embracing  per- 
sons of  great  respectability,  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  highly 
improved  counties  in  the  State  of  New  York,  (the  County  of 
Dutchess)  that  I  cannot  deny  myself  the  gratification  of  reading 
to  you  a  letter  I  have  recently  received  from  an  intelligent  citi- 
zen of  the  county  of  Fairfax,  in  answer  to  some  enquiries  I  ad- 
dressed to  him,  giving  me  the  particulars  of  their  settlement  and 
establishment  in  that  county. 

(Here  Mr.  Rives  read  the  letter  referred  to,  as  follows.) 

"  /  proceed  to  make  the  following  answers  to  your  enquiries. 

How  many  citizens  of  New  York  have  purchased  land  in  your 
County  ? 

Answer.  From  the  best  information  I  can  obtain  there  are  about 
fifty-six  families  that  have  purchased  land,  some  of  which  have  not 
removed,  but  the  greater  part  of  them  now  reside  in  the  County  ; 
these  families  average  from  three  to  five  persons,  making  about 
two  hundred  persons  in  all. 

How  much  land  in  all  have  they  purchased  ? 

Answer.  Thirteen  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty  two  acres. 
They  have  very  generally  preferred  small  sized  farms, from  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  two  hundred  acres,  but  they  have  been  compelled 
to  purchase  large  farms,  or  rather  large  tracts  of  land,  which  they 
are  cutting  up  as  fast  as  they  can. 

Have  they  been  sufficiently  long  established  to  indicate  what  their 
system  of  farming  may  be  ? 

Answer.  /  do  not  think  they  have.  But  their  system  so  far  as 
I  have  observed  it,  is  in  favor  of  the  cultivation  of  grass  over  that 
of  grain,  and  thus  far  they  have  made  rapid  improvements  in  the 
appearance  of  their  farms,  if  nothing  else.  They  remark  that  if 
clover  will  grow  well,  they  are  satisfied  they  can  make  the  land  rich. 

Have  they  used  lime  and  with  what  effect  ? 

Answer.  /  do  not  think  they  have  used  lime  to  any  extent,  so 
as  to  know  what  its  effects  will  be. 

What  appears  to  be  the  prospect  of  a  farther  accession  of  settlers 
from  that  quarter  ? 

Answer.  The  prospect  seems  to  be  very  good.  I  have  no  doubt 
from  the  information  I  have  obtained,  that  they  will  continue  to 
come  amongst  us.  They  seem  to  be  delighted  with  the  climate  and 
generally  pleased  with  our  people,  and  I  know  of  no  one  ivho  has 
settled  here  who  is  desirous  to  return  to  the  north.     There  is  noiv  a 


16 

strong  disposition  amongst  the  wealthy  farmers  of  Dutchess  county 
(the  richest  county  in  the  State)  to  purchase  lands  and  remove  to 
this  county.  Much  might  be  done  by  our  Legislators  to  promote 
this  emigration  so  important  to  our  impoverished  and  wilderness 
state,  but  I  forbear  to  enter  upon  this  topic  at  the  present." 

This  agricultural  immigration  into  our  State  from  New  York 
marks  a  new  and  cheering  era  in  the  history  and  fortunes  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  has  all  taken  place  within  two  or  three  years  past,  and 
consists  of  some  of  the  most  intelligent,  worthy  and  substantial 
farmers  of  one  of  the  most  improved  and  fertile  Districts  of  the 
north.  It  is  impossible  to  prize  too  highly  such  an  accession  of 
industry,  capital  and  intelligence  to  our  agricultural  community, 
or  to  estimate  the  full  extent  of  the  good  effects,  direct  and  con- 
sequential, which  it  may  bring  in  its  train.  What  an  emphatic 
homage  is  it,  gentlemen,  to  the  superior  natural  advantages  of 
our  State,  which  have  hitherto  been  too  much  slighted  and  neg- 
lected by  ourselves.  It  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  influx  of  en- 
terprise, skill  and  wealth  which  will  flow  in  upon  us  from  other 
States,  while  we  retain  in  contentment  and  happiness  our  own 
native  population,  if  by-  improved  systems  of  husbandry  we  do  our 
part  in  developing  and  demonstrating  the  capabilities  and  produc- 
tive powers  of  our  soil,  under  the  hand  of  persevering  and  enlight- 
ened culture.  What  a  field  of  usefulness  to  our  country  is  here 
opened  to  us  all  !  It  is  a  race  of  noble  emulation  in  which  we  may 
all  contend  for  the  prize  of  true  patriotism.  It  is  an  oft  quoted 
saying  of  a  celebrated  writer,  that  whoever  makes  two  ears  of 
corn,  or  two  blades  of  grass,  to  grow  where  only  one  grew  before, 
deserves  better  of  mankind,  and  performs  more  essential  service 
to  his  country  than  the  whole  race  of  politicians  put  together. 
How  much  is  the  merit  and  the  magnitude  of  this  service  increas- 
ed, when  at  the  same  time  by  the  example  of  his  fruitful  labours 
he  attaches,  with  new  and  indissoluble  ties,  his  children  and  his 
neighbors  to  the  land  of  their  birth,  and  brings  a  dozen  useful  ci- 
tizens into  the  State,  where  aforetime  a  dozen  useful  citizens 
were  accustomed  to  leave  it.  Every  man  who  performs  his  part 
in  such  a  work,  however  obscure  his  destiny  in  other  respects, 
or  noiseless  his  path  of  life,  is  a  public  benefactor,  and  a  patriot. 
The  humblest  laborer  in  such  a  cause 

"  Serves  his  country,  recompenses  well 

The  state  beneath  the  shadow  of  whose  vine 

He  sits  secure,  and  in  the  scale  of  life 

Holds  no  ignoble,  if  a  slighted,  place. 

The  man  whose  virtues  are  more  felt  than  seen, 

Must  drop  indeed  the  hope  of  noisy  praise; 

But  he  may  boast  what  few  that  win  it  can, 

That  if  his  country  stand  not  by  his  skill, 

At  least  his  follies  have  not  wrought  her  fall.'' 


